We start this weeks round up with a jump back in time, back to 19th October. When two of our evergreen athletes took on the Paguera Challenge Triathlon 70.3. Iain Hardy and Graham Bell, yes you heard it correctly, Graham was back in action.
They’re both fond of a triathlon abroad and rarely does an event go without incident when these two are together, but for once, the stars aligned and they both done amazing!
Graham has kindly penned a write up of their time abroad.
Paguera Challenge Triathlon
A couple of weeks ago now, Elswick Harriers Iain Hardy and Graham Bell loaded cases and bike boxes and headed for the Island of Mallorca to race the Challenge series triathlon event of Paguera 70.3.
On Wednesday 16th October we settled into very nice accommodation on Tora Beachfront. A sea swim in the early evening allayed any swim fears! Thursday was bike course reccy day.
A course with a bit of everything for the two lap 90km route, taking in the beautiful roads of EsCapdella, Calvia, Magaluf, Santa Ponsa and Paguera. Thursday evening saw a storm swing by.
Fridays weather whilst sunny was extremely blustery. The sea was red flagged and closed to swimmers. Might the swim be cancelled and the race become a run bike run event?
Saturday and race day morning. The extreme weather had passed and the sea was calmer, if still somewhat choppy. Our age group pack was off and underway at 9.19am.
Both of us agreed that after the Australian exit and swimming out for the 2nd lap, we concurred that the sea was exceptionally choppy! We managed to see each other in T1 with GB having a couple of minutes lead.
IH ate into this lead on the bike very quickly and sped past GB on the first climb up to EsCapdella. Once we had both past Magaluf, GB never saw IH again until the run. The bike course was a definite highlight, especially on fully closed roads.
The run. Iain was already into his 2nd lap when GB took to the 4 lap course. Meandering through Paguera’s main road and Palmira beach promenade. The weather was good throughout, warm mid-20’s with a gentle breeze kept athletes comfortable.
Iain had a great day at the office finishing 12thin his age group and 171st overall in a time of 5.34. GB trod a slow path through the half marathon to finish in 6.43 in the same age group, 501st overall out of the 1,000 individual competitors.
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday post-race were good days spent cycling, eating, drinking and enjoying the island. Wednesday morning at 3am: an early start to be home for 9.30 in the morning. Roll on a 2025 race…… somewhere….
Heaton Harriers Memorial Races
With races from u11 to the adults 10km, the Town Moor was packed with eager runners.
The 10km is our final summer Club Championship race for 2024 and it was great to see so many of our athletes taking part, 30 in total according to the results…
Our ever-improving Imogen Bungay ran another outstanding race to finish 4th female and 3rd in her age category in one of the toughest fields around – superb running! Luke Hillard was once again first home for us with an impressive 15th place finish.
There were 6 top 3 age category finishes. Imogen Bungay, Justina Heslop, Mark Turnbull, John Rippon, Susanne Stephenson and Nigel Hollier all stepping on the podium.
It’s great to some new names alongside the Elswick stalwarts, and several runners running PBs.
Shout out to our newer members; Lynne Mickleson running her second race within a week, Dominic Martin and David King running their first road races for Elswick and Mick Wilson marking his debut with a brilliant run.
Well done to all that’s ran!
Hamsterley Forrest
We had Gary Young making his debut for the club, opting to run in the longer 10 mile race.
On a very hilly course, Gary ran an impressive race, completing the run in 71 minutes.
Full results are still to be published, once finalised, they’ll be available from the link below.
Akeld to Wooler 10k
Another hilly one for a Sunday, Andy Middleton and Jeff Emmerson took on the challenging Akeld to Wooler 10km.
The event organisers bus runners to the start line where a steep climb awaits them, they’re then onto St Cuthberts Way which is boggy in parts, but generally very runnable if the legs haven’t turned to jelly after the initial climb, runners then have a steep run back into Wooler itself.
Well done to both our runners!
AGM
Date: 11th November
Time: 7pm
Location: Newburn Leisure Centre
This is your time to listen to all the good things that’s taken place this year and gives you an opportunity to suggest improvements.
At the meeting the current committee will step down giving an opportunity for new members to join the committee – it also gives an opportunity for those willing to continue in their roles to continue if they wish.
With Michele and David standing down as Welfare Officers, we are looking for at least one person to fill these roles. This is a requirement of England Athletics.
There are other roles where you could help if you don’t wish to join the committee; communications, website refresh, race organisation support, coaching, officiating to name a few…
Please make every effort to attend – if you would like to raise something to discuss on the night or would like to help in some way or join the committee, please speak to one of the existing committee members, or our Chairman, Harry Matthews.
Future Fixtures:
Club Champs:
April – Blyth (10k)
May – Pier to Pier (off road)
June – Rest
July – Pie and Peas (10km)
July – Sunderland (5km)
August – Watergate (5km)
September – Rest
October – Internal 5km (5km)
November – Heaton Memorial (10km)
December – NEHL XC (off road)
January – Rest
February – Sherman Cup/Davision Shield (off road)
We’ll look to add an internal race (probably a 5km) if any races are cancelled.
We’ve replaced the 10 mile race options which are hard to find and awkward to fit into a race schedule with ‘off road’ options – this is to encouraged XC participation.
Rules:
best x2 results from each race category (5km, 10km and off road)
Useful website for races: http://www.northeastraces.com
2024 North East Harrier League:
Saturday 28/9 NEHL – Thornley Farm
Sunday 20/10 NEHL – Lambton
Saturday 23/11 NEHL Course Nr Prudhoe NEW COURSE
Saturday 14/12 NE XC Championships
Saturday 4/1/25 NEHL Wrekenton
Sunday 2/2/25 NEHL Sherman Cup/Davidson Shield – Temple Park
Saturday 1/3/25 Alnwick Castle
Sunday TBC NEHL – Druridge Bay
See facebook posts if you want to be registered or speak to Ben and Andrea.